Cathy Gendron

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Cathy Gendron is passionate about giving back to her community. She served as a past board member of the Ann Arbor Art Center and also for 6 years on the Ann Arbor Public Art Commission, which oversees public art projects for the City of Ann Arbor. Gendron has worked in oils and watercolor for most of her career and Her current goal is to master painting in Acrylics.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Beginning her career as an illustrator/designer at the Ann Arbor News, Gendron became Creative Services Manager in 1981, several years later joining the Detroit Free Press as Art Director. Since 1988, she has pursued her passions for painting and teaching by combining a successful freelance illustration career with a position of adjunct instructor at CCS. Her work has appeared in numerous publications for the editorial, book and corporate markets, including "The New York Times," "The Wall Street Journal," "The Washington Post," "The Dallas Morning News," "Newsweek," "US News and World Reports," "Utne Reader," "Seventeen," McGraw Hill, The Penguin Group, Simon & Schuster, Kensington Publishing, IBM, Target and Saatchi & Saatchi. She has won awards from, among others, "Communications Arts Magazine," "Print Magazine," Society of Publications Designers and the Detroit Creative Directors Council.

SIGNIFICANT PUBLICATIONS/PRESENTATIONS/EXHIBITIONS/PROJECTS

Along with three recent graduates of CCS, Gendron designed and painted the largest mural in Ann Arbor, “Enduring Roots” in 2015. During that year she also illustrated her first children’s picture book, “The Nutcracker Comes to America: How Three Ballet-loving Brothers Created a Holiday Tradition,” and has recently illustrated her first middle-grades novel for Simon & Schuster. She is currently creating a body of work for gallery submissions.